An excellent horror film, should not be forgotten

Rating: 10/10 (28 December 2004)

Danny Boyle (director of Trainspotting) was the last person I would expect to see directing a horror movie. Especially a good one. Scratch that. A great one.
Shot primarily in digital camera, the movie follows a man (Jim) as he struggles to figure out just what in the world is going on after he wakes up in a Hospital and finds the world apparently devoid of all life. Stumbling around he finds his way into a church where he finally finds signs of life. Unfortunely those people he does run into in the church are infected with "rage" a virus released on accident by Animal Activists who did not heed the pleas of a scientist to not release a batch of chimps from their cages due to a highly infectious disease they carry.
From there we see Jim meet up with a few other survivors and as the film goes on, we find that the infected are not the only problem Jim and his acquaintances have.
Shot like a documentary the film works on many levels. It scares and at times flat out disturbs the viewer. It's not a horror movie with a "zombie" like theme used for an action platform. Instead it's a gritty account of survival, at times in it's most primitive form.
The scene where Jim is shown walking around the vacant city is brilliant. The music for the scene really sets a tone of emptiness and curiosity. One of my favorite scenes of all cinema. Ever.
What this film does, is show a tale of survival. The gore is not too intense, and is instead left to your imagination (i.e: Psycho, Halloween). It works that way, and Alex Garland manages to work fear, wit, and humor into his script in almost perfect harmony of each other.
28 Days Later is no "zombie" flick. Yes, the infected act like Zombies, but the movie really aims to show that when no rules are in place, we can be our own worst enemy. Great film. Do not miss it.
5/5. Perfect.